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Children Of Murdered Tamara Wilson-Seidle File Federal Lawsuit

Two years to the day that Tamara Wilson-Seidle was shot to death on an Asbury Park street by her ex-husband, Neptune police Sgt. Philip Seidle, their nine children have filed a federal lawsuit.

The suit blames Neptune Township, Neptune Township Police, Asbury Park, Asbury Park Police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as Philip Seidle for her death.

“We have reason to believe that the Neptune police knew much more than has been indicated about the violence being perpetrated against Tamara by Philip Seidle than has been provided to the public,” said Shelley L. Stangler, the attorney representing the family. “Based on that knowledge we have alleged that Neptune Township, along with the Prosecutor, failed to properly discipline Seidle, failed to keep him disarmed, wrongfully reinstated him and allowed him to continue to use his service weapon, which he ultimately did use to kill Tamara Seidle.”

Seidle, who was off-duty at the time of the shooting and had their seven-year-old daughter in the front seat of his Honda Pilot SUV, pursued his ex-wife during a high-speed chase, crashing on Sewell Avenue near Ridge Avenue.

Using his service weapon, and as his daughter watched from the front seat, Seidle fired two barrages of bullets from his police-issued .40-caliber Glock pistol. Authorities said Wilson Seidle likely died almost instantly at the scene.

Seidle held police at bay for nearly 20 minutes as he put the gun to his head and shouted he was fed up with his ex-wife and their divorce proceedings.

Seidle soon surrendered, however, and was taken into custody. He pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter on Sept. 29, 2016, and is serving a 30-year prison term at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.

Because the first barrage from Seidle happened so fast – a matter of seconds after the crash – Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said later that his office’s investigation found that police could not have prevented her death. You can view a video of the release of the prosecutor’s findings above this story. However, he did find that certain procedures were not followed by police at the scene and recommend discipline for two officers who responded to the scene. One of the disciplined officers was Asbury Park Police Captain Marshawn Love, who was a neighbor of the Seidles. Love is listed as a possible defendant in the lawsuit filed by the Seidle family.

Gramiccioni said that Love should have assumed command at the scene. Instead, Love drove the Seidles’ 7-year-old daughter to the Asbury Park police station.

About author

Filming Cops was started in 2010 as a conglomerative blogging service documenting police abuse. The aim isn’t to demonize the natural concept of security provision as such, but to highlight specific cases of State-monopolized police brutality that are otherwise ignored by traditional media outlets.